Getting Your Enemy to Like You Romantically
by Freedomflyer
Summary: Found this on the internet! ABSOLUTE FAVORITE OF MY STORIES! Please try. It can't hurt right?


**Stop thinking of the other person as your enemy. It could just be that this status is what is fueling your romantic notions. Be sure you feel some true feelings of attraction and that this isn't a revenge based notion. **

Ginny realized she was in trouble when one day, during her sixth year at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy lost the red haze that identified him as an enemy. Instead, the color Ginny could identify around the boy when she looked at him was pink. Or perhaps a manly shade of purple. Ginny's brain was identifying him as attractive and male. Uh-oh...

She hadn't realized that thinking of him as an enemy attracted her to him in the first place. With her growing up in a dog-eat-dog family where she had been the youngest and a girl, her crazy brain thought of teasing as a good thing.

Her first thought was about revenge. She liked him now, because that meant she had gone and changed the relationship first. Now he was the one out of the loop. And when her brain told her differently, she became slightly panicked.

**Smile when the person walks by. Do this even if it makes you feel like a fool. You are trying to charm someone you probably haven't been very nice to before. It'll be disarming. **

Walking down the hall where, just last week, they had blown up at each other, Ginny saw him coming out of the charms classroom. Since Charms was her next class, it meant that she would have to pass him. Walk by her not-so-much-an-enemy and act normal. Her friend, Sonya nearly walked past her as Ginny stood in the middle of the hall way staring at her scuffed boots.

"What's wrong, Ginny?" Sonya asked looking at her friend concerned.

"Nothing." Ginny held her head up and smiled. Passing him, she looked directly into his eyes and smiled brighter, feeling stupid.

As she passed she couldn't help but feel that his shock was charming.

**Think of something nice to say and sound like you really mean it. Put some effort into finding the right words and use compliments. **

Another time, passing in the hall one Friday night, Ginny noticed him carrying his broom. The realization that there was a Quidditch match that weekend, brought insight to the stormy look on Draco's face. Taking a deep breath she walked up to him and faced his grumpy look.

"Good luck on the game, Malfoy." His silver eyes looked at her piercingly, gauging her sincerity. Finding it truthful those eyes widened and he stared at her speechless.

"Thanks." he said hoarsely. She nodded and turned back to her friends who looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

**Call a truce. Be sweet, be mellow and be charming. This is a time for showing you have changed your position toward this person. **

After the Saturday game {Which Slytherin had won} Draco and his lot had been in a much nicer mood. Which meant absolutely nothing to the Gryffindor who got in their path. Ginny had managed to stay out of the Slytherin team's way. Then on the Thursday after the game, Ginny got caught in the dungeons away from her friends. That was where the Slytherin prince found her wandering, lost.

"You." He said stopping in the middle of the hall. "What are You doing here?" Ginny blushed.

"I got lost." She looked down at her only good pair of shoes, thankful she had worn them that day. She looked up at him. "I want a truce. I don't have it in me to act like I'm five anymore. Fighting isn't helping either of us." She watched him tilt his head and give her that silver soul gaze.

"Oh." He pointed down a hallway on her right. "The stairs are down that way."

"Thank you." She smiled at him and adjusted her bag awkwardly. "Good bye." As she turned to go, she could swear he was smiling a tiny friendly smile.

"Good bye, Ginevra."

**Invite the person for a drink or a coffee. You need to start somewhere that is intimate enough without being too intimate. A friendly, lively café is a great place to start. Discuss neutral subjects, such as the weather and the quality of the coffee. **

Hogsmead was less lively in the early spring. Less people needed to buy things and many just stayed on the Hogwarts grounds. Ginny was not one of them. A decade of hearing about Hogsmead from her brothers made Ginny eager to investigate every corner of the quaint little town. Apparently, Draco had nothing better to do either. She had run into him at least twice while walking the town.

On her third time, she got brave.

"Would you like to get a drink?" He quirked a smile and gestured for her to lead the way. She took them to a small but well liked coffee house. The American witch who owned the place greeted Ginny by name.

"Hey Gin-girl! Who's the cutie?" Ginny blushed and introduced Draco who took the woman's hand and kissed it in greeting. "I like him. If you don't want him I'll take him." she said with a straight face. Ginny giggled and lead him to a table in the corner.

"How refreshing." Was all Draco said as they sat down. A waitress brought Ginny a cup of Cocoa and got Draco's order of tea.

"I'm surprised more people aren't here in Hogsmead. The weather is perfect today." Ginny said dropping marshmallows into her cup.

"That's why people are staying outside. They want to remember what the sun looks like." Ginny giggled and took a sip. The cocoa left a mustache and she licked it off. Draco's eyes followed her tongue over her lips.

Finishing the drinks, Draco pulled out two sickles. Ginny slapped her hand on top of his and gave him a smile.

"I brought you here, I can pay." He looked at her and shook his head.

"You may have invited me, but it goes against my upbringing to let a woman pay." He gave her his first genuine smile and she relented.

"Thank you." She said and they sat smiling at each other.

**Think of yourself as having no enemies, only friends. This is the big leap in your view of the world. It will take time but if you really try, then a big change in your perspective will eventually take place. **

Thinking of Draco Malfoy as her friend took some time. She thought back to the beginning of the year, when Draco was still red tinged and unapproachable. Gradually, over the year, Draco stopped being a reformed enemy and became an acquaintance then a friend. As soon as she realized this, then all the Slytherin students seemed to loose their antagonistic qualities. Even Pansy Parkinson, though Ginny would have to be very brave or very stupid to tell her that.

Draco's Slytherin s, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Knott and Daphne Greengrass, became less and less Slytherin-y towards Ginny. Blaise even went as far as studying with her.

The school year became less about rivalry and more about learning all you could from different people. And Ginny learned that those different people weren't all that different. Daphne liked the Weird Sisters as much as Ginny did. Theo liked to read and Blaise wanted to become a healer.

Ginny was surprised to learn that she _could_ be friends with Slytherin house.

**Change you. The bottom line is that if you want to change something or some situation, change the way you think about that situation - or that person. In other words, change yourself because you can never change the other person. **

**Throughout the month of May, Ginny thought about her progress with Draco. Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw a new person staring back. This person was calm, Sweet and charming. Nothing like the Ginny who had come to Hogwarts that year. Reflecting on the year and the changes she had put herself through, she realized that this was for the best. So what, her brother barely talked to her anymore. So what, her house members shunned her. She was different and she was working on it. Changing herself was the first step to changing something. **

**She gave her reflection a bright sunny smile and took off through the door to meet Draco, her former enemy, in the great hall. This new red was such a great color around him. **


End file.
